Dinners

While Nathan stayed very busy doing school stuff, I ended packing the entire house myself, except for Nathan's things. Since we had a bed bug problem, that meant that I rewashed and dried all of our clothes, bedding, and towels all over again. I think the worst thing that could happen to us would be bringing a bed bug problem to Laramie. 

 

Since I'm on the subject, I'll update you on the issue. I blogged in May that I thought the bed bugs were gone. Well that wasn't the case and we still got bite but not nearly to the degree we were at. I washed everything in hot water and changed our sheets frequently. I checked the beds every other day to kill any bugs we saw.  By the end on June, no one was getting bitten and I saw a bug maybe once a week. Our 90 days warranty expired July 5, the day we went to Laramie. So we had Terminix come out one more time to scan our house. He could not find any evidence of the bugs. However, our landlady was still freaking out about how she would be responsible to take care of the problem.  Terminix agreed to come back after we were gone and respray the house for free.

 

The other problem with the house was that the lawn was very unhealthy and was dead in most spots. We did water it but it didn't help that much. We've asked her for help but she was too concern about the bed bugs that we received no help. While trying to pack the house, I spent many hours trying to weed the side walk and yard (mainly the front). I should have been weeding the whole time we were there instead of waiting the last minute but it's difficult with a new born and a two year old who runs out into the street. So long story short we didn't get any of our $800 deposit back. We are glad we are out of that situation with the landlady.

 

So back to what I really wanted to blog about. Since I was doing so much work with packing, I decided that no one appreciated what I do.  My plan was to have everyone cook once a week. The kids picked out what they wanted to cook and did most of the work. Hailey wanted to do pizza. She did a great job and just needed help rolling out the dough. Also if you cook, you clean, so the kids and Nathan had kitchen duty also.

Starting this right before we left was not the best timing. Now that we our in our new home we have continue taking turns making meals for about 3 weeks.  Nathan cooks on Saturdays, Robert on Sundays, and Hailey has Tuesdays.  On Saturdays, we pull out the cook books and the kids decide on the main dish, a veggie, and a fruit. Then we all go shopping with our individual lists. Robert has made breaded drumsticks and pancakes. Hailey has done waffles and meatloaf. The kids are so proud of themselves and I do feel like it makes cooking fun again.

What started as a selfish desire to get help has turned into a great learning experience on how to cook and also how to be responsible. Another benefit is that the kids get one on one time with which ever parent is helping them cook. They also are learning about a balance diet and to try different veggies. I have stopped making them do the dishes because I am much faster and our night were getting too late.